DirecTV may not renew Sunday Ticket

As the NFL considers whether to cancel two years prematurely on DirecTV’s Sunday Ticket package, the folks at AT&T may be quietly rooting for the plug to be pulled.

According to the Wall Street Journal, via Sports Business Daily, AT&T COO John Stankey said that the value of the out-of-market-games package has “peaked and that a renewal — especially if it comes with a higher price tag — will be hard to justify at a time when consumers are canceling pay-TV connections.”

DirecTV has owned the package since its inception in 1994. Amid conflicting reports that emerged in the summer, PFT reported that the NFL has a one-way option to end the relationship after the 2019 season, and that the contract, if not terminated prematurely, runs through the 2021-22 season.

“I don’t think we look at that and say it’s a growth product,” Stankey said of Sunday Ticket. “I don’t think we’re going to wake up a year from now and suddenly there’s going to be more people in the United States that want to watch an out-of-market team.”

The package costs $1.5 billion per year, which is one of the main reasons why the NFL isn’t expected to end it early. But the league would like to augment the satellite-based package with a strong streaming option, and Stankey’s comments suggest that DirecTV would be open to a two-company, satellite-and-streaming approach.

Plenty of DirecTV customers (including this one) got DirecTV and keep DirecTV because of Sunday Ticket. If/when DirecTV no longer has Sunday Ticket, plenty of DirecTV subscribers (including this one) would turn their dishes into oversized ashtrays.

DirecTV used to have the best customer service…then AT&T bought them. Since then, I’ve had terrible experience with their customer service.

The day they lose the NFL Ticket, they lose me too! My homeowners association includes Comcast (not much better in terms of customer service)…but since I already have to pay for it, DirecTV will go bye-bye for me.

DirecTV was terrible as a standalone company. They’re become even worse since being acquired by DirecTV. Almost cancelled this year despite wanting the Sunday Ticket. If they get rid of it, I’ll have a new provider within hours.

bryonschultz says:
September 27, 2019 at 3:53 pm
Preach on, sir. NFL Sunday Ticket is the only reason I still have DirecTV. If the NFL truly wants to keep with the times, they need to have a full fledged streaming option for this.

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They need to also invest in bandwidth and better app then.Watching games on the NFL mobile app, sometimes the stream is spotty but guess what…only during the game. For some reason commercials come on crystal clear and smooth streaming.

I’ve had DirecTv since you had to buy the satellite and install it yourself. My last 2 service calls with AT&T have actually been fantastic. Only had Sunday ticket for one year so no biggie if it goes away…

I got rid of DirecTV because I could no longer justify the cost of the Sunday Ticket. Plus always seeing it given away for free to new customers became infuriating to a degree. No benefit to being a long time customer.

Totally done with cable and/or satellite TV service. Streaming is the cheapest and best way to go now. If my team’s game isn’t on TV, I just Uber to the bar, watch football all day, then Uber home. $10 total. Internet+Hulu+Sling = $90 a month. Done paying up the wazoo for TV service, it no longer makes any sense.

boiler72 says:
September 27, 2019 at 4:40 pm
Totally done with cable and/or satellite TV service. Streaming is the cheapest and best way to go now. If my team’s game isn’t on TV, I just Uber to the bar, watch football all day, then Uber home. $10 total. Internet+Hulu+Sling = $90 a month. Done paying up the wazoo for TV service, it no longer makes any sense.
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Apparently the NFL zaps the signal outside of NFL venues like 20 minutes prior to kickoff…. so I’m tailgating during the early games, watching something I paid for, and it gets zapped right when the early games are getting good. The double whammy was subjecting me to being forced to go in the stadium due to being unable to watch…. and watch the Jeff Fisher Rams. Ugh. I cancelled the next day.

The last two seasons, I would call to cancel 2 weeks before the NFL season started. They would offer discounts on movie channels, or a small decrease in my total bill. I’d say “Only thing you can offer me is free Sunday Ticket. My team is on TV almost every week, but it’d be nice to see the other 6 games too.” Both times, Free Sunday Ticket.

This year, it was “Can’t do that”. Okay. “Thanks for trying – I’ll disconnect my service.” Switched to a streaming service and cut my monthly cost by $80 (since we barely watched TV, and all the channels we wanted we on the new service).

AT&T is in for hard times if they drop Sunday Ticket. I pray they do so some streaming entity will pick it up, preferably with a Team Ticket, or One Week Pass approach.

The NFL is looking at the big picture. Everything was in Direct TV / AT&T hands. The NFL has been talking about giving Sunday Ticket to more outlets from other cable TV, streaming services, etc. They may make less than with Direct TV having exclusive rights, but it’s almost a certainly that could make more money by allowing Sunday Ticket to more outlets at a lower price.

bob3339 says:
September 27, 2019 at 4:58 pm
boiler72 says:
September 27, 2019 at 4:40 pm
Totally done with cable and/or satellite TV service. Streaming is the cheapest and best way to go now. If my team’s game isn’t on TV, I just Uber to the bar, watch football all day, then Uber home. $10 total. Internet+Hulu+Sling = $90 a month. Done paying up the wazoo for TV service, it no longer makes any sense.
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No way you’re only paying $90/month for all three of those services.
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Yep. Hulu is $40, Sling is $25, and Comcast internet is $35. Okay, $100, I was off by $10. Still, that’s cheaper than alternatives.

I agree with the person who said the customer service is horrible since being acquired by AT&T. It’s ridiculously bad now. I wish DirecTV would allow you to purchase the Red Zone alone. THAT I would buy. Also, if you’re going to the bar every Sunday to watch, you’re spending $30-40 (if not more) each time on drinks and food. It’s cheaper to buy the package over 17 Sundays of bar time.

You use other people’s Roku sign on? I thought only teenagers did that. do you not have a job? Do you borrow money for gas as well? I don’t think you’re the customer that these companies Target, one of the criterias is actually being a working adult
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arealisticpackerfan says:
September 27, 2019 at 4:02 pm
Directv is the worst. I left them a couple years ago and just use friends login info to stream it through the Roku.

Directv isn’t worth it and the cost of the Sunday Ticket isn’t worth it

I still don’t understand this. You can get Sunday Ticket with having DirecTV service. They have an app on AppleTV, PS4, Amazon, and others. Why do people feel forced to use their satellite TV service when you don’t have to?

Please make it so!!!! I’ve had Directv FOREVER because my team is out of market. Customer Service was a plus before AT&T moved in. It’s absolutely horrible now. I will drop them in a heartbeat as soon as this goes through. So let it be written, So shall it be done… Something like that..

Sunday Ticket subscribers comprise roughly 11% of DirecTV’s customer base – with a $1.5B price tag. AT&T’s acquisition of DirecTV was widely panned when it happened; it’s like overpaying for Blockbuster in 2008.

My DirecTV bill – with the baseball, football, and basketball subscriptions, in addition to the “premier” package, and 6 wireless receivers runs me north of $300 a month. I’ve been testing YouTube TV for $40 a month; I’m also going to test Fobu.tv and Hulu Live. My Gigablast internet runs round $180 per month, so it will be a net gain when I drop DirecTV.

Please NFL pull the plug on directv. DirecTV is such a huge scam. They manipulate prices and every month your bill arbitrarily changes. There has got to be a better model that makes sense. Sell add space on the players jersey so they look like a race car and provide a reasonable priced option that is not a monopoly.